Acts 1:6-8 6So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set by his own authority; 8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the farthest place of the earth.”
Verse 6 reveals the long-standing misunderstanding of the disciples about what God’s kingdom is really about. The time and setting are not indicated but implied in the context. This appears to be a different occasion than verses 4-5. The time was forty days after Jesus’ resurrection. The place was where Jesus ascended to heaven, which Luke mentions later in verse 12 as the Mount of Olives. This was the last time Jesus met with his disciples.
The disciples were thinking wrongly in two ways: time and politics. They were hoping that Jesus would restore Israel as a kingdom right then. Jesus had taught about the kingdom. It was obvious that he had divine power. He had conquered death, which meant he was greater and mightier than those who put him to death, both Jews and Romans. Nothing and no one was greater than he. The disciples had the wrong idea about the kingdom, Israel, and eschatology and were still thinking in human ways. They needed the deep work of the Holy Spirit to change this thinking so it lined up with Jesus’ way.
Jesus corrects their wrong thinking in verse 7. The Father would restore the kingdom to Israel, but not in the times or ways the disciples were thinking. God’s kingdom is not of earthly kingdoms. It never has been. It was meant to be embodied in ancient Israel, but Israel failed time and again to let God’s kingdom work through the earthly kingdom. God’s kingdom is not confined to any nation, time, location, or people. It transcends all human categories. It penetrates all of these and changes them to align with God’s will and way when people respond in faith. The Father’s plan would be worked out in his way. The disciples could join in that by living out all that Jesus had commanded them. Jesus repeats the idea found in Matthew 24:26 that only the Father knows the times and plans for how history will unfold, the kingdom will come, and Jesus’ return to earth. Only the Father, as the supreme and almighty God, has the authority to determine his own kingdom.
Instead of focusing on speculative, humanistic thinking, the disciples should seek Jesus’ promise given in verse 8. The type of kingdom Jesus brings will have the characteristics given in this verse. First, it is a give: you will receive. It is not something we can discover through human ingenuity or observation but comes as a gift of God’s grace. Second, it will be empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Third, it would spread through the witness of Jesus’ followers. The Spirit would enable the disciples to witness in two ways: through their testimony of the loving and holy living, and through the words they spoke. Fourth, this testimony would begin right where they were and spread out even to the remotest reaches of the world. It would begin small, right where they were, with those closest to them. The Spirit would guide them to live like Jesus and speak the words he taught.
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